Advice to get outta this lease

[RollingGreen]

I'll try to break this down quickly; if I leave out info, please let me know, and I'll provide it. I just started reading MMM months ago, so I'm glad I just happen to be so close to lease-end.

I have a 2015 Kia Optima.
Payments are $299/mo. The lease ends in October; I have two payments left. I can purchase it now, though.
I just met with the dealership today. Surprise - they said everything they could to get me into a new lease. But I'm going to purchase the car.

The buyout number the dealership gave me is $12,361.88 The buyout number on the Hyundai Motor Finance website through which I pay my monthly bill is $11,861.55. Kelley Blue Book trade-in value is averaged at about $10,000.

Upon purchase, the tax is $796.

The doc fee is $389.

The registration fee is $135.


After buyout, the loan for 36 months would be $417/mo. at 4.9%. I'm not too concerned about this, because I plan to pay it off as early as possible (Hoping within seven months.) Should I go through my credit union to try to get better financing, or at least see what they can offer?

Just trying to see what my options are (what you would do) as this is my first time getting out of a lease.

Thanks.

[seemsright]

You learned a great lesson...do not lease cars in general.

You do have more options...turn the car in and find something cheaper or within your means aka...no car payment

[former player]

So the car is worth $10k and you could buy it for either $11.8k or $12.3k.  Are the roughly 1.3k in other costs added on to those purchase figures or included in them?

It looks to me as though you would be paying more than the car is worth if you bought it.  I guess you have the advantage of knowing (and presumably liking) the car and being aware of its full history.  Is that worth two or three thousand to you?

Is there any scope to negotiate with the dealership?  If the car is worth $10k then a quick sale for a little more (maybe a few hundred more) should be worth it to them, but at the moment they are presumably still in "here's a person who accepts the rules we make and will pay over the odds" mode.  The closer it gets to you handing the car back without accepting their figures the more likely those figures are to come down a bit - it's possible the dealership and the finance company are locked into certain figures during the duration of the lease but will have more freedom after the lease ends.  Have a back-up plan in case you need to walk away!

[RWTL]

You learned a great lesson...do not lease cars in general.

You do have more options...turn the car in and find something cheaper or within your means aka...no car payment

I would add to this and say if you like that model, look online to see if there are others just like it that you could get for closer to the 10K price point.

[RollingGreen]

Nice. Thanks for all the prompt feedback and insight. I could look at the same model for sale online - might be tough to find one with just 42,000 miles, but worth a search.

Yes, learned a lesson - but happy to know now. The perils of a lease really weren't even on my radar.

Anyway, I'll move onward with your suggestions and see if anyone else has further input.

Great forum, this.

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[Dave1442397]

I'd also say turn it in and buy something else.

If your Kia dealer is anything like our local one, you should run away. Buy elsewhere.

[frugaliknowit]

Optimally, find a car you like on the used market, preferably from a private party.  Why pay dealer retail if you do not have to?

[chasesfish]

Another vote for handing the keys back to the dealership.

There are no winners in this, but you're loosing less than the car company by handing them the keys

[norajean]

You are the winner if you turn the car back in, according to your numbers.  You bought a car and made lease payments according to a calculation which estimated the value today to be about $12,000.  Turns out it is worth about $2,000 less than that.  Not your problem - you don't own the car.  Hand the keys back and let them deal with it. This is one of the great things about leases: if the car is worth less, hand the keys back, if it is worth more you buy them out and keep it or sell it.  Win win.